DBG, Lupin’s generic risk-taker

India is often called the pharmacy of the world for good reason.

- PROSENJIT DATTA

It operates a third of the US Food and Drug Administration-authorised medicine factories in the world, exports drugs and vaccines to over 200 countries and is the number one supplier of inexpensive generics and vaccines.A handful of entrepreneurs — Yusuf Hamied (Cipla), Anji Reddy (Dr Reddys), Parvinder Singh (and to a lesser extent his father, Bhai Mohan Singh), Habil Khorakiwala (Wockhardt), Ramanbhai Patel (Zydus-Cadila), Dilip Shanghvi (Sun Pharma) and Desh Bandhu Gupta (Lupin) — were responsible for turning India into a global generics powerhouse.

Cyrus Poonawalla (Serum Institute) would do the same for vaccines.

Made in India: The Story of Desh Bandhu Gupta, Lupin and Indian Pharma by Manish Sabharwal and Sundeep Khanna is a detailed biography of the late Desh Bandhu Gupta and the creation of Lupin. The title is a nod to Lupin’s advertisement in 1992 — which had the book cover of the bestseller Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony placed next to a similar cover design stating: Made in India: The Lupin Story.

The late Desh Bandhu Gupta (or DBG as most people called him) was a truly remarkable entrepreneur. Even among rags to riches stories of entrepreneurship, his life and achievements stand out. Born into a family that had seen better times— his great-grandfather, Bhawani Sahay Gupta, was the first person from Alwar to obtain a college degree and had been given a jaagir of two parcels of land in Rajgarh by the then king of Alwar.